Keanu was pretty good in The Matrix. People don't give him any credit for acting well, but he played a decent Neo. Nicolas Cage supposedly turned down the role, so I guess we at least got the lesser of two evils.

Staff: Mentor

Yes, but the way he plays the role is just a reincarnation of his Bill and Ted role (just older). And he's done that several other times: Constantine was a great movie, but he was the same guy. Speed was Neo as a cop. The Day the Earth Stood Still was Neo the robot alien.

Now he has occasionally done a couple of other roles (Sweet November?), but I haven't seen those movies....

Yes, but the way he plays the role is just a reincarnation of his Bill and Ted role (just older). And he's done that several other times: Constantine was a great movie, but he was the same guy. Speed was Neo as a cop. The Day the Earth Stood Still was Neo the robot alien.

Now he has occasionally done a couple of other roles (Sweet November?), but I haven't seen those movies....

The thing is, he just seems so emotionless in all his roles and he has that same surfer way of talking. It's not necessarily the same character.

Considering how little acting either is required to do, the question is a little like asking if people prefer to eat rocks or glass. They both wind up typecast and keep playing the same basic role over and over.

I guess there's at least a couple roles Reeves has played where you become involved enough in the character that you forget it's Reeves playing the role, so he probably has the talent to be a good actor if he could get good roles. The only role Gibson has played where I even remember the character's name is Braveheart. (None the less, if you ask which turned in the most enjoyable performance, I'd have to say Gibson in "Mad Max - Beyond the Thunder Dome". I loved that movie even if it was definitely a B-rate movie.)

I like actors like DiCaprio and Depp in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape". You remember the characters in the movie more than who the actor was and that's the mark of a good actor - to bring the character to life. Or Reese Witherspoon and Keifer Sutherland in "Freeway", for that matter - I never would have expected Witherspoon to play that type of role and play it so well.